This invention relates to fabrication and utilization of woven-wire belt and work product conveyance structures which enable control of belt travel along a curved-path by dynamic frictional contact between a rotary drive means and a lateral edge portion of the belt.
Prior curved-path conveyance structures have relied on heavy duty linkage means positioned to act along one or both lateral sides of the belt and/or centrally of the belt. Such linkage means are utilized to drive a conveyor belt under tension in the direction of its length (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 3,682,295 which issued on 1/8/72, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,139,135 which issued on 8/18/92).
Driving such belts under longitudinal tension can require special structures which make them less readily adaptable to many uses and less economical to fabricate and operate than the woven wire belt frictional-drive methods and structures of the present invention.